Danny's Dirty Little Secret
by ithaswhatitisnt
Summary: Repost due to editing issues. A character study of Daniel Dickens from childhood to his death at the hands of the Angels. M for some masturbation and Zack's language.
1. Chapter 1

_Rachel was in the building_, and that was all he needed to release half-suppressed snorts of crazed laughter. He had been waiting for this day for apparent eternities, and now the girl was finally within his grasp.

He had trembled when she entered his office, her face fixed in a stony nonchalance, and her peepers were dull. Déjà vu rocketed him back to the day Mother hung herself:

"_You useless, disgusting freak!_" she spat before stepping off the chair. Daniel had borne her abuse for many years, and her comments were nothing new. But he couldn't change, and that burned him from the inside out. Anophthalmia was well out of their financial range to be rectified.

Some years after Mother continued swinging, Daniel saw the appeal of the medical career, and he applied to study at medical school as quick as possible.

It was always peepers that called to him. He couldn't get enough of staring at peepers, day in and day out. There were so many colors and abnormalities alike to explore, all waiting for him. His lab professor gifted him with a false peeper upon completing the first year of medical school.

"We can set you up right," his professor had chortled, and Daniel didn't hesitate. Even his own peepers were enticing, and he agreed as fast as he could. Of course, after the procedure, he requested to keep more peepers, for further study. His oculophilia was insatiable, but he simply _had_ to have them.

His interests soon swiveled to psychiatry (thanks to his father's offensive comments), and he found he could derive great joy from watching others' peepers dim, or fill with tears, or narrow and roar at him in unadulterated anger. He hadn't known such a rush since before Mother swung.

Daniel would go home, push his still-hanging mother, and cackle in glee:

"I'm so close, Mother!" Her whitish peepers stared back at him, not offering the validation he looked for.

Graduation came and went, and he was now Dr. Dickens.

His first patient was an obese young adult with severe anxiety and self-esteem problems. He did what he had to do, but no more and no less. Her peepers, a shiny green that made his stomach roil, were the first addition to his collection. He enucleated her with the excuse that if she couldn't see herself, then her mental health would improve. She wasn't nearly as intriguing as he had hoped for. His second patient was no better, an unruly boy of 10 who showed unprecedented fury toward everyone. His boring brown peepers were also harvested, with the pretext of being blind would humble him. This was accepted with no arguments.

It was the third patient that captured his attention and held him enraptured. One Rachel Gardner, traumatized from the sudden death of both her parents and one puppy. The lack of emotion in her eyes forced him to think that it was she who had committed the brutal slaughter, but he said nothing, forcing the pair into more and more sessions. She was the perfect replica of his mother's dead eyes, and he wanted nothing more than to cherish them for as long as he could swing it.

After six more sessions with Rachel than previously planned upon, Daniel was pulled aside by Rachel's caseworker.

"Isn't she done yet?" Daniel merely smiled his professional smile.

"She'll be done when I say she is."


	2. Chapter 2

One night, after hours, Daniel was locking up and he found himself face to face with what he thought was a blind priest.

"May I help you?" Daniel asked saccharinely, and the priest shook his head.

"You can help me, but likely not in the way you expect." The last thing Daniel remembered from that night was the sting of a needle in his neck, and slumping to the ground. When he came to, he was in a room that eerily resembled one of his hospital's surgery rooms. Instead of asking where he was, like any sane person would do, he climbed on the surgical table and jerked off, thinking of Rachel the entire time. Daniel finished messily, crowing Rachel's name, and came violently. Only after he finished did he remember that he wasn't sure of his location, so he called, "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

"Welcome, Daniel Dickens," boomed the priest's voice from above. "You have been chosen to be one of my angels of judgment. Do you accept?" The timbre in his voice was equal to authority, and so Daniel nodded vigorously. He admired the priest's peepers, so white and inert, and he believed after his tenure at Gray's building, he could collect the milky peepers for himself.

"Excellent. I am Gray, please alert me if anything isn't to your liking." Through shouted conversations with the blind man, Daniel learned that he was a pawn in this deranged priest's experiment. Gray asked for recommendations for new 'angels', and Daniel recalled a woman who worked closely alongside him at his facility. She was beyond merciless, carrying a riding crop and whipping anyone who merely glanced at her incorrectly. The blind priest had simply smiled, nodding his approval. Thus, Cathy was instated in Gray's trial, and given the floor that was two above Daniel's, B3. Soon, Gray brought on a young gravedigger, named Eddie, who was exceptionally good at his job and never showed his face. He was on the floor above Daniel's, B4.

The recruitment that puzzled Daniel most was the sociopathic orphan, Issac Foster. However, if Daniel and Gray wanted to keep their intestines, they knew better to refer to him as Zack. If Daniel believed he himself was ruthless, he had nothing on Zack, who had killed more than double Daniel's kill count. Gray had left a scythe on Zack's so-called floor, B6, the lowest of the low, and Zack chose to wield it with impressive accuracy. He toted it around like a security blanket, and Daniel began to worry about if Zack would escape to other floors, if he would encounter Rachel. As long as there was breath in his body, Daniel would not let Zack near Rachel. Daniel didn't care to get close to any of them, least of all the sociopath, but when Gray informed him a new tenant would be coming to the building, Daniel began quivering in anticipation.

"Is it….my beloved Rachel?" he rasped, and Gray smiled, knowing Daniel couldn't see him. The psychologist had been an essential component to his experiment, and Gray thought he would bring a small bit of happiness to Daniel's days.

"Indeed," Gray responded, and Daniel became lightheaded from the frenzied feeling. His sacred pale peepers, coming back to him at last!

"However," Gray began again, and Daniel visibly deflated, "she must stay on the first floor, Daniel. You cannot take her and keep her on your floor."

"I understand," Daniel agreed, knowing full well he wouldn't be following Gray's instructions this time. His pupula duplex would likely frighten her, but with time, he was sure that Rachel would come to love his peepers as he did hers. In time, he would cultivate romance, he was positive.


	3. Chapter 3

When Gray finally brought Rachel directly to Daniel, he cowered before her, barely able to put a full sentence together.

"Rachel! W-welc-come!" he stammered out, proud he was at least able to get her name out fully. Her face contorted in confusion.

"Dr. Danny?" she asked, and he could hear her desire for clarification.

"Yes, Rachel, it is me. You will be in good hands here." She began mumbling all sorts of other questions, but he merely took her by her (small, fragile) hand and began to lead her toward B1. Daniel himself had spent endless hours creating a replica of her house on that floor, and outfitted her room with everything (what little he knew) she would enjoy. He could stay on B1 with her, no problems. Gray had three other charges to look after, and the occasional sinner. Daniel didn't care anymore. Now that his treasured peepers were here, he had to take the utmost care. He didn't care about Gray's self-styled rules. His and Rachel's life together simply had to be a dirty little secret.

So he was caught entirely unaware when Rachel dug in her heels, refusing to step into the elevator.

"Dr. Danny, where are we going?" she asked, her timid voice making his heart race.

"Ah, well…my sweet, we're going to _your _floor." Rachel still declined his leading hand, and so Daniel sighed and turned to face her properly. He smiled as sweetly as he could manage. "Please, dear, don't fret. I promise you'll enjoy it. And I'll be there to keep you company!" He gave her unyielding hand a squeeze.

"Why didn't you talk to me like this at therapy?" she asked innocently, and he cringed a bit.

"Uh, sometimes…. there's a thing in the medical profession that you must keep a strictly professional relationship with your client. And to me, you became more than just a client. You became my _entire world_, Rachel." His voice pitched at the end, and he hoped it didn't make him seem beyond salvation in her eyes. To his immense relief, she merely shrugged.

"Whatever," she mumbled, and he grabbed her hand forcefully to get her into the elevator finally.

"There are others here, right?" she asked, and he almost didn't want to tell her the truth. He finally sheepishly admitted that yes, there were other judges here. Daniel didn't divulge that Rachel would soon become the overlord of them all, per se.

The elevator screeched to a halt on floor B1, and Daniel led the way, barely managing to keep his ecstatic shivers down to a minimum.

"Welcome home, my dear," he announced proudly, anxious for her to see his handiwork. To his delight, she didn't say anything, merely rotating her eyes to scan the room.

"This isn't my home," she mused, and he felt a palpable spike in his anxiety.

"You're right, it's not," he admitted. "However, I made it up as close as possible to your old home." He immediately clapped his hand over his mouth. He hadn't meant to divulge that quite yet.

"Ah," hummed the disinterested Rachel, going to peer in the other rooms. He inwardly sighed an enormous sigh of relief. Rachel wasn't completely rejecting him. This was a massive weight off his shoulders; the remainder of the task would be to cheerfully keep her from finding out the rest of the operation.


	4. Chapter 4

Four days into their forced isolation, after Daniel had made his morning trek to retrieve a gift for Rachel, he returned to find her casually flipping through a Bible that he had _not_ brought for her. _That damnable Gray!_ He cursed silently, knowing exactly what his fellow floor master was attempting to pull.

"Rachel, sweetheart." He knew she could hear the shaking in his voice, and he was just barely able to suppress the overwhelming anger at the priest. "What is that you have there?"

"A Bible," deadpanned Rachel. She tightened her tiny hands over the tome, and Daniel had to bite back the urge to tear it from her and light it on fire.

"Where did you get it?" Urgency ripped through him, dreading Rachel's answer.

"It just appeared," she said, shrugging, and Daniel bit his knuckles to keep from roaring in rage.

"Why don't you give it to me?" he said as sweetly as he could manage, and to his shock, Rachel recoiled from him.

"No. I like this book, please don't take it," she pled, and he was stunned, because Rachel had never asked for anything before.

"Alright, very well," he allowed, and she smiled, nearly sending him into a frenzy of wanting to caress her. He stopped himself and instead went to the room next to the one she was in, where he pleasured himself to the thought of her happiness. He called her name, careful to be muted in case the walls were thinner than he knew. To his immense relief, Rachel didn't come in and catch him in the midst of his ecstasy. A small bit of him wished she would. It would be more than her usual neutral expression, and his heart lurched at the same time he came. Would he be able to survive living like this? Daniel wasn't sure, but he'd be damned if he wouldn't try.

* * *

A few weeks later, Daniel caught Rachel flopped over on the couch, one hand rapidly turning the sacred text left not-so-secretly by the holy man. Suddenly, her peepers widened and she fell to the floor. Daniel rushed over to her, dropping to his knees to get on her level.

"Rachel, sweetheart, what's wrong?" he coaxed, but all she could do was pant and cradle her head in her hands.

"SinnersinnerI'masinnerGodwon'ttakeme," she slurred, and Daniel widened his own peepers in alarm. The priest's brainwashing had taken effect, and Daniel was now fighting against an invisible opponent.

"No, Rachel." He chuckled nervously. "We are all sinners here, it's okay." Rachel rolled away from his embrace, repeatedly chanting the word 'no'. Within a matter of moments, Gray had appeared, frowning upon taking in the sight of a rabid Rachel and a clueless Danny.

"_Daniel,_" he said calmly yet sternly, "what did I tell you about staying with her?" Before Daniel could reply, Rachel had flung herself at Gray.

"Apriest,apriest,he'llcleanseme," she babbled, hugging Gray's robes for dear life. Daniel could only stare, his mouth gaping, at the level of affection she showed the preacher.

"Yes, Rachel," Gray boomed, "God will show you mercy and cleanse you." At this, her knees buckled and she sobbed in relief. Gray then turned toward Daniel, who had been trying to escape to the next room.

"Daniel Dickens," he thundered, "you have disobeyed my orders. And not only that, but this child has forgotten herself and her duties to me." Daniel flinched at the sheer amount of venom in Gray's voice.

"Abraham, _please_," Daniel pled, "I meant no disrespect! I just wanted to live a quiet life with her when the sinners were on other floors…"

"Enough!" Gray commanded, and Daniel stopped his protest. "Since she has forgotten herself, we shall make her a sacrifice." His lips curled into an unsympathetic grin, and Daniel immediately saw red. He rushed the priest, intending to hit him, but Gray was simply too used to Daniel's reflexes.

"Too slow," Gray chortled, before turning to Rachel, who had since calmed down and was sleeping peacefully.

"Need…to…die," Rachel whimpered, and Gray scooped her up into his arms.

"Maybe this will be a good reminder for you of why you are here, Daniel Dickens," the preacher intoned, and Daniel crawled on his knees toward Gray.

"Please…_please_…_I'm begging you_…._**don't take her away**_…" Daniel was bawling now, and Gray shot him a cold look.

"You _will_ understand, because now she will be a sacrifice," ordered Gray, and Daniel's tears increased.

"_God no….no, please…I'll do anything_!" This time, Gray said nothing, and shut the door behind him, Rachel still in his possession. Daniel continued howling, running to Rachel's bedroom and throwing himself onto her bed.

"No, no, _no_…_Rachel_, he gasped, inhaling her smell as best he could. Before he could stop himself, his hand snaked into his pants and he began masturbating in Rachel's bed, one of his ultimate fantasies. Of course, he had always imagined she'd be in the bed _with_ him, but he had to satisfy himself by any means necessary.

They had warned against this in medical school. He had been told to report cases of pedophilia, to not fall in love with patients. As far as Daniel was concerned, Rachel's peepers were all he needed, rules be damned.


	5. Chapter 5

Daniel kept his stethoscope trained on the floor, straining his ears for any screams of Rachel's. His worst fear had come to light: she was on Zack's floor, likely avoiding any encounters with the scythe, but he couldn't help the chills that overcame him while he listened.

She had questioned him about the identities of the other floor masters while he helped her set up a trip wire only two days previously. It was only once, and he didn't recall the conversation fondly. He had explicitly warned her against seeing Zack.

"He is not a _person_," Daniel's voice rose, "to be reckoned with, sweetheart. He _will_ kill on sight." Rachel had only nodded her head, and Daniel had thought that was that on that.

Everything had changed when Gray made her a sacrifice. When the announcement rang out through the floors, Daniel felt shivers ripple down his back. Would Rachel be able to stay alive for that long? At least until he could rescue her…

His pondering was interrupted by the sound of an elevator rising and stopping on his floor. Curiosity scraped away at his insides, wondering if Rachel had honestly made it past the bandaged sociopath. To his immense relief, his darling Rachel _did_ step out of the elevator, taking steps ever-so-gingerly, whipping her head back and forth to scan for danger.

Once Daniel got a good look at her, his stomach sank. Her peepers were bright now, full of fear and self-preservation, entirely different than how she had been before. She was no longer _his_ Rachel, and that was a big problem.

"Dammit, Gray," he muttered, turning to prepare his instruments. The only way to get her peepers back would be to kill her, and the thought pained him beyond relief, but it was the only solution. Rachel's footfalls finally sounded loud enough, and he straightened his tie. It was time to reassure her, to gain her trust again, so she would follow him willingly. He stepped into the hallway and met her halfway.

"Doctor?" she questioned, taking in his white coat and smart-looking glasses. She took a few steps back and Daniel's windpipe began to close. _She was afraid of him and it was not according to plan_.

"Yes, Rachel, you're right." She flinched upon hearing her name from his mouth, and he swallowed back the diatribe threatening to come out. "I'm Doctor Danny, remember?" She nodded, and he untensed his shoulders.

"What is this place?" she asked quietly, and he quickened his pace toward her.

"It is a …exam, of sorts," he told her, and she took a step back. Daniel frowned and upon finally reaching her, he let his fingers dance in her hair. He meant to be soothing, but Rachel recoiled from the contact. The psychologist's plan was unraveling rapidly and he needed to do something drastic in order to keep her, and by extension, her peepers, with him. So he began pushing her toward his office, ignoring her mewls of protest.

"I just want to go home," Rachel said, and Daniel almost stopped for a split second. _Almost_. Rachel had been driven mad by that accursed Gray and his meddling, and it was up to Daniel to restore their happy life together by any means necessary. Daniel would consume one of the peepers in his prized collection if he couldn't manage to sway Rachel back to his side.

"If you stay on this floor, with me, you'll be safe from that guy on the first floor," Daniel lied through his teeth, and Rachel's peepers widened.

"Really?" He nodded, leading her to his operating room. Daniel hadn't had much warning of her arrival as a sacrifice, so unfortunately, the bloodstains from all of his other procedures remained.


	6. Chapter 6

"Now, Rachel, if you wouldn't mind," he said, locking the door behind him away from her prying, analytical peepers, "can you help me find _my favorite peeper_?" Rachel said nothing and turned her attention to the myriad shelves in his room, browsing through jar after jar and presenting each to him. She had to have gone through about twenty jars before finally finding his red and green masterpiece of a peeper. Daniel was extremely disappointed, as the old Rachel would have retrieved it instantly, but he had to remind himself to be patient with her. The insanity brought on by the preacher had rendered her memories useless. She needed gentle prods, not rough handling.

"Thank you, Rachel." Without consideration for her stomach, he popped the peeper into his empty socket and turned his gaze directly on her. "How do I look?" Rachel went backward, knocking two empty jars off the shelf. "That bad, huh?" he chuckled, and turned away, wiping off his instruments one more time with a huck towel.

"N-no," Rachel mumbled, "but where are my parents?" Daniel gave a mirthless laugh, swinging her up in one fluid motion onto the operating table. He secured her wrists and ankles with straps, and lifelessly told her that her parents wouldn't be coming back.

"You can see them again, dear…._in hell_," he hissed, looming over her with his tongue lolling out and his peepers glowing menacingly. For a few seconds, Rachel struggled against her restraints, but almost as instantly as it had begun, her peepers lost all fight, and she fell limp. Daniel couldn't help cackling, for his glorious peepers had returned in full force.

"How beautiful you look! So lifeless! Just like my mother!" he crowed, and Rachel refused to meet his own peepers. Her lack of reaction was exquisite.

"Go ahead, kill me," Rachel intoned, and Daniel froze. Killing her wasn't necessarily the intent, but it could be, if she really desired it.

"Oh, _Rachel_," he crooned. "That's not what I want at all. I just want your peepers here with me forever." With that, he selected the instruments that would cause her the least amount of pain and prepared to enucleate her.

At least, until Daniel suddenly felt a massive surge of pain across his back, and crumpled to the ground to the tune of Zack's animalistic laughter.

"Surprise, bitch!" Zack crowed, waving his scythe in triumph. "Betcha thought that fuckin' geezer was gonna kill ya, but it's gonna be me!" Daniel frowned, knowing full well there was less than 10 years difference between he and Zack, but the orphan was illiterate and very much stupid in all other senses, so what could be done?

Daniel's breath hitched as the sociopath moved toward the operating table, eying Rachel like a predator observes a pathetic meal.

"Hey!" Zack suddenly shouted. "C'mon, look fuckin' pitiful or some shit. I can't kill ya like this!" Yet Rachel's expression didn't change. She requested that Zack kill her, and he threw his head back and howled with maniacal laughter.

"Fuckin' bitch!" He cut her free from the table, and Daniel's jaw dropped in utter horror. This was his worst nightmare come to vivid life. Yet all Daniel knew he could do for now was to remain lifeless on the floor, wait for them to leave, and try to regroup with Rachel later.

"I tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge," she said to Zack, and he grinned sadistically.

"Lemme do it, it's easy shit!" With a few (surprisingly accurate) scythe cuts, the iron door was thrown wide open, and the mismatched pair took their exit.

Daniel was left reeling, his breaths jagged from the agony of the wounds on his back, but those were easily remedied. Retrieving Rachel from that monster would be another thing entirely. So Daniel gathered all the medicine he had available, stuffed it into his coat pockets, and made his escape.


	7. Chapter 7

_Damn that monster and his beautiful heterochromatic peepers_! Daniel thought as he wandered in the machinery of Eddie's floor. He had no quarrel with the mortician, and he was very good at his job, so there was no reason to give him any animosity. However, Daniel's neutral feelings toward Eddie dissolved into fury when he heard what the accursed brat was saying to _his_ beloved Rachel.

"Rachel, it was love at first sight," Eddie sang, extending some red poppies towards her. "We're the same age, I love your voice, and _oh_," he exhaled in ecstasy, "you would be so beautiful dead!"

"Fuck off, brat," Zack interjected, stepping in front of Rachel with his weapon held high. "Ray promised me that _I'd_ kill her, and me only!" Rachel nodded in agreement, and Daniel thought his heart would stop. Rachel, making a promise like that with _that hellion_? Daniel's entire world as he knew it had crumbled, and it took everything in his power to stay behind the machinery and not take over Eddie's job for him.

But _Ray_? It was a desecration every time that nickname fell off Zack's tongue. Daniel immediately tried to think of how much more painful he would make Zack's procedure, if/when he got his hands on him.

"You're crass, ugly, and would look downright awful in a grave," Eddie taunted Zack, easily dancing away from his strikes.

"Like I give a damn, shithead!" Zack threw back at him. Daniel noticed Rachel had disappeared from the fray, and he was on edge to know where exactly she had gone.

"Zack!" Daniel finally heard her yell. "I found a passage, please hit the wall where you hear me!" _Oh_, how Daniel ached to listen to her instruct Zack instead of himself!

"Got it!" Zack yelled, beginning to swing his scythe madly. He crushed the wall into dust, and found Rachel, unharmed, on the other side.

"I know how to get out," Rachel told her companion, and Daniel began seeing scarlet splotches in his singular field of vision. Every word from her lips to Zack's ears was another stab wound to Daniel's insides. However, Daniel clucked his tongue. Knowing a way out usually meant severely injuring or killing the floor master. So far, no sinner had been successful.

But no other sinner Daniel had seen had possessed the sharp wit and fast thinking Rachel naturally came by. Perhaps….just perhaps…if she managed to get past all the other floor masters, and she came back to her own floor, perhaps her memories would return…? Daniel didn't know for certain, but it was likely the most surefire way to bring her back to his embrace.

While Daniel was deep in thought, Zack had delivered a deceased Eddie into the grave meant for Rachel. The miniature gravedigger looked odd in a grave surrounded by a plethora of flowers, but Daniel shook his head. If Eddie was truly dead, then it was a shame. His work was truly to be admired.

Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel witnessed Zack raise his hand and Rachel slapped it in return. _Now she was even touching the reprobate!_

"Let's go, Ray!" Zack cheered, and Rachel solemnly led their way to the elevator.

Daniel didn't know what would kill him first, Zack and Rachel's interactions, or biting his nails down to the quick when she would try to survive Cathy's floor.


	8. Chapter 8

Working at the facility, Daniel hadn't run into Cathy much, but being a fellow floor master had granted him more than enough insight into her methods. If Cathy had been brutal at the facility, that was absolutely nothing compared to how she treated the sinners that went through the trial. Cathy was truly barbaric when dishing out her punishments.

"A sinner has no right of choice." Cathy's favorite saying, and she would say it as much as she could until it grated on Danny's ears like a tone-deaf funeral bell. Typically, she'd administer the line when she was preparing to strike the death blow to her victim. She'd never killed before coming to Gray's floors of torture, but she was likely happier this way. She had been known as the "Condemner" at the prison, and Daniel envied her a bit for her dramatic flair.

Luckily for Daniel, Cathy seemed hell-bent on torturing Zack more so than Rachel, and for that, he was grateful. However, she was placing way too much pressure on Rachel, and that was unforgivable to Daniel.

Daniel couldn't help but be impressed by viewing Zack take all of Cathy's punishments and still be standing. The veritable Frankenstein had been electrocuted, gassed, and lethally injected, and yet he still stood, albeit hunched over, using his scythe as a cane. A truly formidable opponent, in some respects. His physical strength didn't change the fact he was dumber than a single-celled organism.

Cathy cackled over the loudspeakers.

"Well done, my exquisite sinners! But, can you act quickly enough to kill each other before I kill you both?" Ever the show woman, she kicked a toy pistol at Rachel. "It's got blanks." In the blink of an eye, Rachel had rejected Cathy's gun and pulled one of her own out of her satchel. Daniel froze. He hadn't placed it there, so he didn't know where the gun had materialized from. The warden didn't seem fazed, slapping her riding crop against her control panel.

"_I didn't authorize this_," she growled, and Rachel fired.

One bullet was enough to stun Cathy, and Zack, still bleeding profusely, gave her a finishing blow to the center of her torso. Though he hated to admit it, Daniel couldn't help but be awestruck by how much strength the sociopath actually had. Cathy fell like an anchor, her riding crop skittering to a few inches to the right.

Two floor masters were dead, and Daniel quivered in anticipation. Gray's floor was next, and the priest was as wily as he was authoritative. He yearned to snatch Rachel out of Zack's filthy hands and take her back to her floor by himself. Rachel's next words chilled Daniel from the inside out.

"Kill me, Zack. Please," she implored, and Zack's response froze him solid.

"Don't let me fuckin' kill ya just yet." Daniel's heart broke into infinitesimal pieces. After everything he had done for her, reducing himself to her plaything, and bending to her every whim…this betrayal stung quite acutely. _It's not her fault_, Daniel reminded himself. _She's not in her right mind._

A desperate man had to resort to desperate measures.


	9. Chapter 9

En route to B2, Zack collapsed, his brute strength finally failing him. Daniel observed in glee as the bandaged orphan dragged himself out of the elevator, eventually coming to a stop a quarter of the way in an opulent hallway. Rachel was hemming and hawing over leaving Zack alone, but he told her to go.

"Maybe you can find some damn medicine," he breathed weakly, the trace of a reassuring smile crossing his lips. Zack overlapped his arms over his still-bleeding stomach as if to shield himself and fell unconscious. Before she departed, she knelt by his ear and whispered something. Daniel would have sacrificed the entire building to learn what she had said. Before his peepers, Rachel disappeared into the elevator, going back to his floor to look for something to suppress the hemorrhage and keep her companion alive.

Daniel only waited a few moments after Rachel's departure to appear in front of Zack. He smiled mirthlessly and sent a swift kick to Zack's ribs. He jerked awake, his peepers able to focus despite the blood loss, and sneered. Daniel was his least favorite fellow floor master, and he knew it. Rachel's fate was on the line, and Daniel didn't care what unscrupulous means he would stoop to. For Rachel, there was no line he wouldn't cross, no toes he wouldn't step on, and he would do undeniably _anything_ to get her back.

"Hello, Zack," Daniel simpered. "How are you doing there? You don't look so good."

"Fuck off, shitty glasses bastard!" spat Zack. "I don't have time for this." He leaned away from the leering doctor, not wanting to look at him. Daniel wheeled around to stay in Zack's line of vision. It wasn't often Daniel could kick Zack when he was down, and he was going to relish this opportunity.

Daniel rolled a few vials of drug out of his pockets, and Zack gave a bloody, phlegmy cough.

"Fuckin' hand it over," he rasped, and Daniel cracked up.

"I don't think so," he said pleasantly. "You see, you've stolen something very precious to me. Rachel is the dearest person to me in the world. And you've taken her away from me." To his surprise, Zack had enough energy to muster a cruel snicker.

"Ya think I stole her? Naw, she calls me her fuckin' god," Zack retorted. "I don't like it, but she wanted it. Without Ray, I can't get outta here. And I gotta get the fuck outta here." Daniel didn't think, he just lunged at Zack; needles full of caffeine plunged into Zack's veins, and he howled in worse pain than he had ever known before.

"I'll kill you myself," Daniel announced. Suddenly, Zack's features twisted in recognition.

"Ya fuckin' love her. Oh God, you're a damn sick fucker, ain'tcha?" His answer was confirmed when Daniel's penny loafer connected with his stomach wound.

"Shut your degenerate mouth!" Daniel ordered. "I'm going to go get her back, no matter what. I _despise _you, Isaac Foster…" He was cut short by a scythe swing to the face, and jumped back to avoid being sliced open. It was amazing what a man could do when enraged, but using the term 'man' to describe Zack was being incredibly generous.

"Don't ya ever fuckin' call me that again," Zack snarled. Daniel settled down, a somber smile on his lips.

"I'm not coming back. I will be taking all the medicine with me." Daniel turned and began to head back toward the elevator, in order to start his pursuit of Rachel anew, and spittle suddenly flecked his hair.

"Fuck you," growled Zack. "Ray wouldn't go anywhere with ya." It wouldn't be worth his time to dignify the cretin with a response, so Daniel silently traipsed to the elevator and closed the door. Let the unfortunate orphan bleed out on Gray's lavish scarlet carpeting.


	10. Chapter 10

Daniel did catch up to Rachel, but it was a little too late, as the priest had already set her her task. The good doctor could only observe as _his_ Rachel was drugged with inhalant gas. He longed to cry out in despair, but he and Rachel were both too far gone from how they were before. The peeper-loving doctor felt his hands spasm, preferably to wrap around someone's neck and wring them senseless.

Gray was reclining on his organ bench and Daniel approached him angrily, the scythe marks on his back throbbing.

"Gray! What have you done, you damn bastard?" Gray merely rose and faced Daniel head-on.

"My angel of judgment, I have done nothing but to allow for the sinner to repent."

"_Lies_! You did this to punish me, and I have been punished enough!" Gray abruptly appeared to be four times larger than he normally was.

"_I decide when your punishment ends, Daniel Dickens!_" boomed the preacher, and Daniel stood down, suddenly as meek as a chastised puppy. "You cost me my best and brightest angel of judgment, and now she has to atone if she could ever hope to gain her memories back, let alone come back to her position as floor master. A title _you_ have tarnished beyond repair." During Gray's punishing tirade, Daniel's fingers curled around the few choice instruments he had placed in his pockets before leaving B5. One never knew if an emergency procedure would arise, and Daniel liked to be prepared. Gray and Daniel had been more akin to co-workers, friendly acquaintances at best. Gray had severed the relationship with a few words, and Daniel did not intend to show any mercy to the one who had disrupted his life with Rachel.

"So." Gray kept Daniel at arm's length. "What do you intend to do now?"

"Obviously, I'm going to retrieve my prize," Daniel spat. "I'll show you what kind of God there is here!" He turned on his heel, stalking out of the faux church. Rachel was only meandering around B2, and when not in a drugged daze, the floor was actually quite minuscule compared to others. All Daniel had to do was intercept her, before one of Gray's horrific visions set in.

A shrill scream broke the silence, and Daniel ran, full tilt, towards it. If he found so much as a single scuff mark on Rachel, or a speck of dust in her peepers, he was going to have Gray's head, not just his peepers. He ducked into a triangular room, and there stood Rachel, struggling as though being held by invisible restraints and staring blankly at the wall.

"_Beloved_!" cried Daniel, rushing at her with his arms extended, ready to embrace her and never let her leave his sight again. To his chagrin, Rachel was completely unresponsive. All the doctor could do was wait, and pray Gray's gas would wear off quickly.

His attention held rapt, he watched Rachel as her body moved of its own accord, picking up a smashed fragment of vase to cut through paintings. He drunk in the sound of her choking, as though an invisible thick liquid washed over her tiny frame. Before Daniel's astonished peepers, Rachel was heaved backward, arms splayed out, and then she was lifted before him with seemingly nothing holding her in the air. She was laid out in a pattern of crucifixion.

A fist closed around Daniel's airway as Rachel wailed: "_I'm not a witch_!" Gray was fond of the witch trials in America, Daniel knew, and soon sweat droplets began to dot Rachel's forehead. Daniel now realized which part of the trial had commenced: the burning.

_How Daniel wished he could intervene!_ Rachel being burned alive, even though it was merely an illusion, did not sit right with him and he would not stand for any more grievances laid upon her.

Finally, _finally_, and oh-so-gently, Rachel was released from her torment. She curled her body into the fetal position, trembling and whimpering.


	11. Chapter 11

Daniel laid in wait until most of the priest's gas had worn off and Rachel was sleeping semi-peacefully. He scooped the snoozing Rachel into his blood-soaked arms and began to stroke her hair absentmindedly.

"It's alright," he whispered lightly. "We'll be going home now." Rachel did not stir, even as the pair ascended in the elevator to reach B1.

A soft ping announced their arrival to an empty floor, and Daniel stepped cautiously, not wanting to wake his peeper princess. He navigated in the dark to the couch, where the replicas of Rachel's long-deceased parents lay. Daniel raised a foot to kick them aside; they wouldn't feel anything, even if they had still been alive. Rachel had explained her history to him, not becoming hysterical or weepy as some patients had. She was quiet and methodical in the way she presented her life, and Daniel respected that immensely.

Still, the overwhelming feeling of pure rage whenever he thought about Rachel's parents was something Daniel didn't want to dwell on. Only she and her peepers were important.

Rachel was deposited carefully on the couch, and Daniel moved silently to the window, drawing the shade so only a faded blue moon would shine dim light into the area. Rachel required slow stimulation. Daniel breathed a sigh of relief; there was no way in hell that damn imbecile would be able to finagle his way up to B1. Sheer strength would only deliver him so far, and Daniel had _personally_ overseen the construction of traps and tricks on this floor. Zack was, in short, too much of an idiot to come after Rachel.

Before Daniel could dip into Rachel's bedroom for some celebratory pleasure, he was interrupted by the triggering sound of the detestable blade.

So, the moron _had_ managed to worm his way up to B1. That was all well and good, but Rachel was back in Daniel's possession now, and he wasn't about to let her slip away a second time.

A burst of motion out of the corner of Daniel's peeper jerked him into battle mode, and the bandaged brat was panting raggedly, blade raised.

"Where the fuck is Ray?" he demanded, and Daniel just chuckled.

"She's right behind me," he said, holding out his arms as though wanting to embrace Zack. "You can come retrieve her once you make it past every trap in here. _Educate yourself_," he sneered, pulling the door shut and locking it.

"OI! RAY!" Zack bellowed, his fists raining blows on the door, and Daniel finally snapped.

"_Keep your filthy mouth shut_!" he growled. "If you wake Rachel, I will personally cripple you." Left with no other choice, Zack propped his scythe against his shoulder and began exploring the mysterious floor.

Shortly after Zack's forced exit, Rachel woke on the couch, confused as to her surroundings. Clearing her head after a few seconds, she met the greedy peepers of Daniel, who had been ogling her inert form. More seconds ticked by, and her calm understanding was replaced with panic.

"_Don't let Zack find this floor_!" she begged, but Daniel shook his head with a smile. It was already far too late for that; if the sociopath knew who Rachel had been, and what she had done, he wouldn't be so keen to kill her.

"_I'm begging you, please, please, __**please**_," Rachel pled, her panic morphing into hysteria. Daniel had never seen her like this, and it mildly frightened him. "Zack is my _god_…without him, I have nothing…"

"I am your God," Daniel said coldly, watching her face fall and hoping his message came across loud and clear. "Everything you could ever need here, I will provide it for you. You don't need that satanic spawn to help you." He knelt, squaring her gaze into his double peeper. "Please rely on me, Rachel." His voice had softened, and he extended a hand to smooth her hair. He was met with a hard recoil. Rachel leaped to her feet and tried every door in the room.

"_Why did you lock them all?_" she yowled, and just when Daniel thought he knew all of Rachel's clever tricks, she surprised him even now. Rachel hefted the pistol out of her satchel and began firing at doorknobs. A wave of alarm rose in Daniel's throat and threatened to suffocate him. The little minx was innovative, but Daniel simply had more years of experience.

"_Rachel_," he wheedled, approaching her with his hands up. "Let's just calm down and talk this over calmly, please…" The end of his sentence was silenced by the success of her breaking open a door at last. Daniel made a grab for her, but Rachel ducked and accelerated out of the room.

The only problem with this floor was Rachel had too many hiding spaces when she was being obstinate. It would take Daniel much longer, and exhaust his patience much faster, when she got into moods like this and he would look for her. But this time was different. Their life together was on the line, Gray waiting to sever it, and Daniel would be damned if he'd let Rachel herself ruin things for them.

Zack's movements were easier to track, as he was naturally noisy, it was near impossible to lose track of him. Rachel moved slowly and deliberately, each step filled with purpose. She wouldn't waste unnecessary energy.

"_Ra-chel_," Daniel sang, peering into every corner and shadow he came across. "Come back, my love. I need your _peepers…_" The doctor went methodically into each room, turning on the lights, making sounds, sorting everything into a display of chaos. Rachel hated messes she didn't make, and Daniel thought for sure _that_ would lure her out.

His thoughts were interrupted by an excited Zack, and Daniel's heart sank when he realized the brat had found Rachel.

"Rachel _lied_ to you, Zack!" Daniel yelled. "Dispose of her and return her to me!"


	12. Chapter 12

Gray had truly thought of everything. Who among the floor masters had known the building would have a self-destruct option? Daniel limped up the ladder to the enclosed roof floor. No master looked after it, but that would make his pursuit of his beloved and that filth that much easier. Daniel's fingers rushed to feel the pistol he had purloined from Rachel's bag. The smoldering metal reassured Daniel _he_ held the upper hand here, not the blade-wielding delinquent.

Catching up to the pair at the very top was proving to be a challenge, even for someone as shrewd as Daniel. Aside from limping, debris from the collapsing building showered around him, and many places had caught fire. When Daniel managed to survive this (he had to, there was no other choice), he would place a tracking collar on Rachel. Leaving her free was too much hassle. His emotions were swelling into a fever pitch, and he giggled like a schoolgirl.

Daniel thought his peepers were deceiving him as he approached the summit of the building, only to see Rachel and the orphan, nearly completely engulfed in raging flames. The bandaged holy terror was whaling away on the door, and Rachel was coughing more and more frequently. Though he hated to do it, Daniel slipped the pistol out of his pocket and rose it to peeper level.

He had a novel's worth of things he ached to impart to his prized girl, but he was out of time. One shot was going to be all Daniel could manage, for a marksman, he was not. He lined up the sight, aiming for the shoddy orphan, and fired.

It was a severe miscalculation. Rachel fell instantly, and Daniel released an unearthly roar.

"_You've taken everything from me_!" Zack paid no heed to his words as he knelt and tried to determine if the shot had hit any of Rachel's vital organs. Rachel offered a meager "okay" and Zack relaxed. If Rachel was still alive, he could still escape, and he would take her with him, away from the child predator.

"Go to fuckin' hell, bastard!" Zack screamed, easily settling Rachel into a resting position on his back. Her breathing was shallow, though Daniel's shot hadn't hit anything important. "She's leavin' ya and this goddamn place! Don't fuckin' follow!" Incensed, Daniel took one step forward to take his beloved peepers back, and was instead met with an arrow through the right side of his chest. The pain didn't register; he simply looked up, and discovered a lurking Gray, crossbow at the ready.

"Even at the end, you can't control your desires, can you, Daniel?" Gray boomed. The priest was a much more accurate shot than Daniel, and raised the sight once more. "Let them go, Daniel. It was never Rachel you wanted. You merely wanted to be loved and accepted for yourself." At that second, Daniel felt a calm wave of clarity overtake him.

_That was exactly it._ Gray had hit the nail on the head with his usual tact. A crazed smile spread across Daniel's face, and he spread his arms out wide.

"Gray…tell me…_am I beautiful_?" he simpered, and Gray nodded before a chunk of concrete buried Daniel beneath it. The last coherent thought Daniel had before dying was _L__ook at me, mother! Look at me, Rachel! _He heard the heavy door slam behind his love and the filth before his senses were totally nullified.


	13. Epilogue

Hello! If you've made it this far, thank you for sticking with me! I've never written a multi-chapter fic before, and I'm pretty proud of this one. I'm also fully aware I suck at writing news articles but Zack wouldn't care, he'd only want the names and what immediately happened haha. Thank you again, I hope you enjoyed this trip into Daniel's brain as much as I enjoyed writing it!

* * *

While Zack was doing hard time at the local penitentiary (he _had_ committed several unrelated murders prior to being an angel of judgment), he slowly developed the ability to read. This effort was led by an iron-willed therapist who remained unfazed by Zack's frequent death threats. It was thanks to this new skill that Zack learned the fate of his former co-workers, though he didn't think of them in that manner.

A daily newspaper was slipped under his cell bars, and he painstakingly worked through the patterns the letters made up, ignoring the words blacked out so he couldn't identify the place or date:

**A massive fire was put out on [redacted] at approximately 12:53 AM on [redacted]. Several bodies were discovered, badly charred. **

**Edward Mason, aged 13, was identified via dental records. **

**Catherine Ward, aged [redacted], was identified via dental records. **

**Abraham Gray, aged 66, was identified via dental records. **

**The last body has remained unclaimed. If anyone has any information about the identity, please contact us at [redacted].**

Zack cackled in glee. All of them had what was coming to them. It was worth waiting in this shithole for the perfect opportunity to be able to break out and fulfill his and Ray's promise.

It would be soon. Zack looked over the article once more and cringed upon reading the final sentence.

"Rot, pedo fucker," he rasped. Deep in his murderous mind, Zack knew the unidentified body was that fucking doctor. The one regret Zack had was not being able to put him down before he could hurt Ray further.

Zack leaned against the cinderblocks of his cell, peering out the small window at the swollen moon. It was a perfect night to kill Rachel, and he just felt she would agree. A smirk settled onto his bandaged lips. Time to cause chaos and go do the deed.


End file.
